But why stop there? You don’t just share your blog post to Facebook, you share it to Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. for optimal awareness. Why not do the same with your big content too?

SlideShare Is Great, But I Have Some Concerns

Let’s get this out of the way, I love SlideShare. I loved it more when they gave analytics that extended past one year and offered a paid lead generation account for $20/month that wasn’t rolled into a LinkedIn account, but that’s just me.

In fact, once upon a time, I was so amped on SlideShare, I even wrote a whitepaper on best practices for SlideShare marketing, and will egregiously plug it—because, why not?

A Few Concerns

With all this in mind, I’ve always had some beefs with the platform:

• Putting it nicely, Site Search is a bit flawed, and browsing by category is even worse
• Getting a video uploaded to SlideShare is a Herculean task
• SlideShare automatically categorizes uploads, often incorrectly, into documents, infographics and presentations (infographics end up in documents more often not)
• Did you know you can put links in your SlideShare presentations? It’s true. However, it’s a presentation-only feature, so your documents just have dead links sitting in them.

It’s Still Worth Publishing on the World’s Biggest Infographic/Document Site

It’s easy to look past these issues, because SlideShare is by far the most visited and used platform for posting documents and infographics—the 144^th most popular website on the web and 416^th most popular in the United States.

However, when it comes to promoting your content like whitepapers, infographics, and the like, you should be getting it in front of as many eyes as possible, meaning that you should focus on distributing it through a multitude of channels—find the reader where he or she is searching.

Promoting Whitepapers, Presentations, and Infographics: Six Alternatives to SlideShare

This is why I would like to share with you today some of the easiest places to publish whitepapers, presentations, and sometimes infographics so that you can generate leads and send traffic back to your website. Many of these sites are in the top 25,000 websites in estimated traffic, some of which offer follow links.

But First, a Note

While this differs from our 20 Free Infographic Submission Sites blog (many of which are sadly no longer free—see my blog Paid Infographic Sites: The Fastest Way to the Bottom), there is some overlap between the lists.

…And a Recommendation

While posting your entire infographic is a necessity, don’t post your entire whitepaper or presentation. As marketers, we’re all here to find new clients/customers, so we recommend posting the first few pages (the table of contents, an introduction, and maybe the first section) followed by a link to your landing page.

As mentioned above, this was a weakness of SlideShare, as the links don’t work in anything besides presentations. Comparatively, sites like eDocr, issuu, and calameo each include live links in your documents.

So, without further ado, the top 5 sites for publishing content you’d otherwise only post to SlideShare. To test each platform, I will be posting the MMP Guide to Selecting a Marketing Agency, one of our most popular whitepapers (which you can download here).

1. Scribd

Fast Facts:

• Alexa Rank for scribd.com: 307 (Global), 621 (US)
• Google PageRank: 8/10
• Domain Authority: 76
• Page Authority: 75
• File Types Supported: pdf, txt, doc, ppt, xls, docx

About Scribd

Scribd acts as both a book publishing platform for paid readers as well as an open platform for publishing and sharing documents of all kinds. To date, people all over the world have shared more than 60 million documents via Scribd, from landmark court filings to business presentations to academic papers from scholars around the world.

The Verdict

As one of the larger and easier to use platforms for sharing whitepapers, eBooks, and other guides, scribd is a worthwhile choice in the directory/promotion scene. Links within your documents do work, and embedding is easy, with embed codes designed to autosize. While the process for adding tags and categorizing the documents is kind of odd, the “discoverability score” is comparable to SlideShare and helpful in optimizing your document.

2. ISSUU

Fast Facts:

• Alexa Rank for issuu.com: 828 (Global), 1,151 (US)
• Google PageRank: 9/10
• Domain Authority: 83
• Page Authority: 60
• File Types Supported: PDF, Word (DOC), Powerpoint (PPT), Open Office (ODS, ODP), WordPerfect (WPD), Rich Text Format (RTF), Star Office (SXI, SXW).

About ISSUU

From giants of the publishing industry to art-school graduates seeking a first job, issuu gives anyone with digitally bound content the ability to upload and distribute their publications worldwide. In just minutes. And as often as they’d like. More than 20,000 publications are uploaded and shared every day including magazines, newspapers, portfolios, catalogs, corporate literature, DIY guides, community programs and more.

The Verdict

With free and paid models, ISSUU is one of the larger sites on the web for posting documents with 30 million documents uploaded and 100MM+ monthly active users, presentations and other publications. Paid subscriptions allow full-screen sharing, additional customization, statistics, auto-detection of links, and more, but the free model is great if you just want to upload a document and share it.

ISSUU is also one of the more visually stunning applications for documents upload, converting PDFs and presenting in a magazine format.

3. Calameo

Fast Facts:

• Alexa Rank for calameo.com: 4,592 (Global), N/A (US)
• Google PageRank: 7/10
• Domain Authority: 62
• Page Authority: 53
• File Types Supported: PDF, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, xls, Open Office, and more.

About Calameo

Calaméo is the first multilingual digital publishing platform and has a community of five million users worldwide.  Calaméo provides private and professional users with a dynamic and innovative medium to instantly publish and share interactive and multi-media magazines, brochures, reports, newsletters, presentations, catalogues and e-books on any device.

With over 10MM publications, 5MM users, and 5B pageviews, Calameo is one of the most popular document sharing platforms on the web. Calameo is one of the most feature rich platforms, allowing for the addition of music/video, links, tables of contents,

The Verdict

While not immensely popular in the United States (majority of traffic from France, Mexico, Spain, Columbia, and Venezuela), I do like the magazine format, the ability to add links to your document, and the ease of embedding.

There is no tagging or categorization on the platform for basic users, and basic users do have ads put on their documents, but the platform is well designed and a worthwhile consideration for sharing your documents. There are premium options available if you needed more storage, wanted to publish something larger than 500 pages, etc.

4. AuthorSTREAM

Fast Facts:

• Alexa Rank for authorstream.com: 13,038 (Global), 35,946 (US)
• Google PageRank: 6/10
• Domain Authority: 61
• Page Authority: 60
• File Types Supported: .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx, .key .pdf

About authorSTREAM

authorSTREAM is a platform for sharing PowerPoint, Keynote and PDF presentations on the Internet. authorSTREAM makes it easier to share your slideshows through blogs, websites, on YouTube and even via iPOD. What’s best is that it’s all FREE! Just sign-up, upload presentations and start sharing.

For presentations authorSTREAM allows a multitude of features like sharing presentations on YouTube, adding voiceovers, and sharing via iTunes, as well as the ability to download presentations and sharing privately.

The Verdict

Although focused on presentation sharing, I enjoy this site for sharing documents like whitepapers. You are limited to five tags, analytics are premium account only, and links within documents/pdfs aren’t automatic, but authorSTREAM is functional and useful for uploading documents and presentations.

5. edocr

Fast Facts:

• Alexa Rank for edocr.com: 83,571 (Global), 263,274 (US)
• Google PageRank: 4/10
• Domain Authority: 22
• Page Authority: 19
• File Types Supported: pdf, txt, doc, ppt, xls, docx

About edocr

edocr is a free digital publishing platform that allows businesses to share content, enhance SEO and generate leads. Some of the benefits of edocr include:

• Content sharing with a brand new audience
• Ability to embed a document viewer on your website
• Enhance your content’s search engine optimization
• Generate leads with gated content
• Earn money by selling your documents

edocr offers a lot of customization options—categorization, the ability to add documents to collections, the ability to add links in a description, your choice of how the document displays, and more.

The Verdict

I personally find edocr as a viable alternative to SlideShare, despite being the least trafficked site on this list. Offering many of the features I enjoyed from the old SlideShare (lead generation, gating), as well as some other features I would have loved from SlideShare (NAP add-ons, click to call), I personally believe edocr will gain traction in the future.

Conclusion

While this was more focused on distributing whitepapers, guides, and eBooks, there are a multitude of sites that allow you to create and/or post presentations including but not limited to Prezi, Speaker Deck, Projeqt, PreZentit, Present.me, slideboom, SlideRocket, SlideDog, BizSugar, and so many more.

Again, the first place we post is SlideShare, but it is important to post in a multitude of places to reach as many eyes as possible. Have any to add? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post Five Quick and Easy Places to Publish Your Whitepapers (That Aren’t SlideShare) appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Our friends from the Amalgamated Marketing Agency Network, an independent network of specialist agencies, have launched this must-read guide for any brand or company in search of a marketing agency of any type.

The Definitive Marketing Agency Selection Guide

As aforementioned, the Amalgamated Marketing Network is a network of highly specialized agencies dedicated to ensuring their affiliate agencies promote and succeed. In this, they have recently released an in-depth guide to successfully selecting a marketing agency. This unbiased and informative guide provides companies with the tools necessary to establish an effective agency partnership. One of the important tools outlined in the guide is the following 4-Step Selection Process:

1. Planning the Agency Search: How to develop an Agency RFP, decide on a budget, and devise selection criteria.
2. How to Identify Agencies: Depending on your needs, your scope of agencies to select can vary.  Different agencies are better at different things. Learn who best suits your needs and fits your budget.
3. Vetting Agency Candidates: How do you develop a long list? A short list? What questions do you ask?
4. Making the Final Agency Decision: After developing a short list, how do you make your final decision?

As an active member of the Amalgamated Network, Modern Marketing Partners invites you to download this whitepaper on the Amalgamated website under the Marketing Agency Selection Guide.

Please comment and share this information with associates in search of agency partners.

The post Marketing Agencies: How to Select the Right One appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

And with over 27% of total U.S. Internet time being spent on social networking sites, not having a presence is truly a missed opportunity for businesses. Are you a business looking to get into social media marketing, but just not sure where to begin?

Start here! Our new whitepaper, Social Media Marketing For Beginners, will get you on the road to social media marketing success! Topics areas covered include:

• What is social media marketing?
• What is not social media marketing?
• 6 reasons your business needs social media marketing
• What social networks are right for your business?

The guide will also provide the top 10 steps for kick-starting your social media marketing. Want to get started? Click here to download.

The post Social Media Marketing For Beginners appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

In the not so distant past, marketing of software systems, hardware or IT services was secondary in importance to sales and business development. Today, changing market dynamics have forced IT product and service providers to reconsider and elevate marketing to mission critical status.

In our new whitepaper, Information Technology (IT) Marketing: 10 Modern Best Practices, we identity four reasons that effective IT marketing is more important than ever,  along with details on the Top 10 IT Marketing Best practices (below), an IT marketing infographic, and finally, a case study example.

The post Information Technology (IT) Marketing Top 10 Best Practices appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Cause marketing allows companies the opportunity to succeed financially while simultaneously doing something good for the community. In our recently published whitepaper, How Brands Can Use Cause Marketing For Results, we shared the types of cause marketing, cause marketing tips, case studies, and an infographic. Below we will share 6 tips for effective cause marketing!

6 Tips For Effective Cause Marketing

1. Pick your nonprofit partner wisely

It’s crucial to partner with a nonprofit that understands the strategic nature behind your partnership. There needs to be the understanding that a successful cause marketing campaign should ensure the mutual benefit of both sides. Your company is more than simply a source of funding and the nonprofit is more than just a way to boost your image. If you both happen to share the same target audience, that will go a long way towards forming a meaningful collaboration.

2. Integrate the cause into your company culture

The cause you’re supporting should tie in seamlessly with your company’s overall mission and values. Consumers are not naïve enough to simply buy into your cause marketing campaign without asking how the cause relates to your product or service. Authenticity and a high level of commitment from the top down are key so talk to your team and find a cause that everyone can feel truly happy about supporting. If stakeholders see that you have fully integrated the values of that cause into your company culture, you have a much higher chance of increasing returns related to your company’s goals.

3. Give more than just money

As mentioned previously, your company can and should give more than just dollars. Think about what your company can offer in addition to financial support. Donating relevant products or services will strengthen the association between your brand and the cause. Another option is to offer a corporate volunteering program. These programs allow employees to volunteer while on the company’s time and have been shown to dramatically improve both employee
engagement and satisfaction.

4. Be transparent, demonstrate impact

So the consumer has purchased your product and a portion of the proceeds have gone to your nonprofit partner. Is your interaction with that consumer done? Definitely not. Savvy consumers want to know what you’ve done with their generous donation and whom you’ve impacted. Avoid jargon that sounds like feel-good nonsense and be as transparent as possible with your results (it’s great PR). Keeping a counter on your website to track funds raised is a good option but you can also get more creative by sharing stories about the campaign’s impact on the community.

5. Leverage free PR

Make sure you’re strategic communications focus more on the cause you’re supporting than your company. If you’ve created a strong connection between the two, this should be enough to generate some fantastic PR. Because you’re associated with a nonprofit, much of the PR you generate will be organic (free) and this buzz will add authenticity and credibility to your campaign. We suggest first making good use of this free publicity but there are also wire distribution sites that will send out your press releases for a fee. PRWeb is a popular general distribution site while others such as CSRwire and 3BLMedia focus exclusively on cause marketing news. Fees range depending on the services you select.

6. Harness the power of social media

Whether you’re just starting your cause marketing campaign or celebrating its success, let the public know about it! Social media is ideal for promoting cause marketing because it gives you the opportunity to connect with those passionate about what you’re doing. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are just a few fantastic platforms to reach your audience rather than wait for them to come to you. Create videos that highlight your team’s quality work. Find prominent bloggers who are already talking about this cause and would be excited to hear (and possibly write) about your campaign. Also, don’t forget to connect with the nonprofit as well as their staff and volunteers.

Want to learn more about cause marketing? Download the full cause marketing whitepaper for more details about the types of cause marketing, case studies, and a cause marketing infographic. Link here for more information on Cause Branding vs. Cause Marketing.

The post How Brands Can Use Cause Marketing For Results appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

If you want to take your link building initiative a step further, consider some advanced link building techniques. Advanced link building includes submitting your website, blog, articles or white papers, and news releases to online directories to achieve links.

Directory Submission For Your Website

First, ensure that you have submitted your XML sitemap to search engines. Then, submit your website to web directories in order to build links. Below are some of the top website directory submission sites (paid and unpaid):

Top 3 Web Directory Submission Sites (PAID):

1. Yahoo Directory – The Yahoo directory is the best paid option for submitting your website. Cost: $299 per year
2. Business.com – Business.com is a great paid option, also a little pricy but worth looking at. Cost: $299 per year
3. Best of The Web – Best of the Web is a cheaper option for a paid directory and is quite popular. Cost: $149.95 per year

Top 3 Web Directory Submission Sites (UNPAID):

1. All The Websites – Allthewebsites.org has been around for some time and is one of the top free directories that hasn’t switched to paid yet.
2. IllumiRate – Illumirate is a top free directory, but does take time for your listing to be verified.
3. ExactSeek – ExactSeek requires membership in order to add your URL to their directory.

Blog Submission

There are a large number of blog submission sites out there. Make sure to research each individual site you are considering, as some may be spammy or require you to add code to your website. In some cases, adding code to your website is ok, especially in the case of a blog submission site like Technorati, where adding the code is only temporarily needed as verification. Consider these blog submission sites:

Technorati – Technorati is a very well known blog submission site. However, they have a tedious submission process. You must create a profile and then you are allowed to “claim” your blog. When doing this, Technorati will ask you to provide your feed link (rss feed burner), your facebook page link, your twitter link, and any blog profiles you know of that link to your blog currently. This shows how important it is to connect all of your social profiles, website, and blog! You will need to put a small code within a blog post, have Technorati check that it exists, and only upon approval can you then remove that token.

Blog Search – BlogSearch.com allows you to quickly submit your blog and confirm that you are the owner through an email verification process. Upon verification, they will review your blog and add it to the category you chose. The submission process takes under a minute!

Blog Catalog – Blog Catalog is another great blog submission site that requires you to validate your account through email before submitting your blog. Then, you can add your blog through your profile. A positive aspect of Blog Catalog is that there are a ton of categories to choose from to make sure you submit your blog to the most relevant listing. You will be required to verify your blog through adding Blog Catalog’s link somewhere on your home page (you can do the footer if you do not want it overly visible).

Article Submission

Consider submitting your original articles to these top three article submission sites:

Ezine –  Ezine is a great site to submit your white papers and articles to. Membership is free and you create a profile as a person, not an organization. So, if you are the person who writes for you company, be sure to sign up as yourself. In your profile, you can connect your Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn accounts, which is great if you are trying to build a link relationship back to your website. Search engines can recognize that you are the original author of the content and give you authority in search results. It is important to follow all the steps Ezine outlines in generating article content. They will contact you if your first submission does not pass all of the guidelines and allow you to go back multiple times to fix it.

Articlesbase – Articlesbase is the easiest and quickest article submission site to submit your articles and they get back to you about whether or not your articles have been approved quickly. Like all article submission sites, this one offers statistics on the number of times someone has viewed your article. Notably, they have a keywords performance, like Google Analytics, that shows you what people searched to arrive at your article.

Yahoo! Voices – Yahoo! Voices is the most strict article submission site. It is difficult to get your article or white paper submitted to this site as they seem to be a “three strikes you’re out” type of site. So, make sure that your article follows all of their guidelines and is practically flawless in errors. They only give you two chances to resubmit your article and will then reject it if you do not pass the test. If you can get your article submitted to this site, it will certainly help you in search.

White Paper Submission

You’ve spent a ton of time creating content. Consider adding your white papers to the article submission sites above and the follow white paper specific resources below to further demonstrate your subject matter expertise:

Edocr – Edocr is a great site for generating leads from your white papers. It allows you to submit, for free, up to 5 documents of your choice, title them and give them a description. In addition, you can view who has looked at your white papers and commented on them. If your business has many white papers, you may consider upgrading to their paid options.

Compliance Home – Compliance Home is a regulatory white paper submission site that allows you to submit white papers quickly after you sign up as a member. Keep in mind that this is a regulatory whitepaper submission site and good for construction firms that have various resources and regulation documents to post.

PR and News Submission Sites

Newsworthy items can get your organization a lot of attention. Leverage important news items by submitting press releases to various newswire sites, like PRWeb, BusinessWire, and PRNewswire. For more information, read New Rules of PR: A Guide To Modern Publicity.

These advanced link building submission techniques can help you build search authority and improving your rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). In your quest for links, avoid blackhat SEO techniques like link farms or robot linking. For more information on what NOT to do read, Bad SEO: Blackhat Techniques are a No No.  Google actually penalizes sites for engaging in these link building tactics. A large quantity of links will not benefit you if they are not quality links.

Have you ever used submission sites or website directories? Please share this post with those who are interested in submitting their website, blog, or articles to submission sites and directories.

The post Advanced Link Building – Submission Tips appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

A Guide to Modern B2B Content Marketing from Modern Marketing Partners takes you through the content marketing process; including planning, implementation, and measurement.

The guide also provides tips and best practices for three of the most popular types of B2B content: blogging, case studies, and white papers.

“Content marketing is a hot topic,” states Neil Brown, Partner and Chief Marketing Officer for Modern Marketing Partners. “Our guide to content marketing can teach B2B companies how they can really leverage this tool.”

You can download “A Guide to Modern B2B Content Marketing” here.

Please share this post with others who are interested in content marketing! Do you have any content marketing tips to share? Please let us know in the comment box below.

The post A Guide to Modern B2B Content Marketing appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

This blog will identify four (4) reasons that effective channel partner marketing is more important than ever, followed by  Top 10 Marketing Best Practices for Channel Partners, a channel partner marketing infographic, and links to additional resources.

4 Reasons Channel Partners Should Reconsider Marketing 

First, sourcing or selection IT related products or services has shifted. Studies show that up to 90% of technology products and professional services sourcing begin with or use a search engine. Second, competition has intensified. Now channel partners face greater competition from local, regional, national, on-line and non-traditional competitors. Third, marketing has changed dramatically. The modern marketing mix focuses on search authority, thought leadership and lead generation, and importantly, is proving dramatic and measurable results. Marketing activities are often categorized as Inbound and Outbound. Fourth, historically channel partners tend to spend less time, effort, resources and investment in marketing than other industries. But for the factors above, now must make marketing a higher priority, or risk failure.

So what types of marketing should channel partners undertake? What marketing is most effective? Take a look at our Top 10 Marketing Best Practices for Channel Partners at-a-glance, followed by marketing best practices detail and a Channel Partner Marketing Process info–graphic!

Top 10 Marketing Best Practices For Channel Partners

1. Analysis and Planning
2. Leverage Vendor Support
3. Build Awareness
4. Direct Marketing  
5. Referral Program 
6. Website improvement and search engine optimization 
7. Build awareness
8. Content
9. Blogging 
10. Webcast and Live Events

Channel Partner Marketing Best Practices Detail

1. Analysis and Planning–Prior to embarking on marketing, take a step back with some analysis. Identify sales and profit by market segment, and product or service. Determine growth opportunities. Evaluate competitors marketing, websites, products and services. Ask an expert for an objective opinion. A marketing plan should identify timing of marketing initiatives throughout the year, along with estimated expenditures. Use a spreadsheet or calendar to manage marketing.

2. Leverage Vendor Support-Hardware vendors and software publishers typically have much deeper marketing resources than channel partners. From templates for brochures, websites, email or case studies, to content for these applications. Vendors often sponsor webcasts and product demonstrations that channel partners can participate in. Finally, vendors or publishers might offer co-op or market development funds (MDF), to reimburse channel partners for approved marketing initiatives.

3. Build Awareness–A search-optimized website can improve search authority, but awareness is having a presence in your region to build word-of-mouth and referrals. Participate in or sponsor networking events. Consider advertising in local or regional publications. Aggressively write news or press releases, and distribute to local, regional and national editor lists. Use free and paid news distribution services. Research and seek speaking opportunities at relevant events. Note that the bigger the event, the longer the planning cycle.

4. Direct Marketing–The purpose of all marketing is lead generation. So manage it with a customer database, marketing automation software or contact manager. Code, track and report leads. Integrate the database with website registration pages, and email campaigns. Conduct ongoing research into relevant prospects and contacts. Procure prospect lists from publishers or associations. Use telemarketing qualification to identify decision makers and contact information.

5. Referral Program–A recent study identified 52% of professional service business is referrals. Support client referrals by requesting references and testimonials. Identify highly networked clients and ask for referrals. Recognize referrals with gifts and thank you’s. Nothing gets referrals more that providing referrals. Systematically cultivate and give referrals.

6. Website Improvement and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)–Your website is the foundation of the marketing program. A website more than 3 years old could be obsolete (mobile version?). Does the site rank in the top 3 search results for keywords? Run search engine optimization diagnostics like SEOmoz to identify issues and problems. For more SEO tips, check our whitepaper: Search Engine Optimization.

What are your website traffic statistics? Check Google Analytics. What about content and image? Does the site have compelling content like case studies, and events? Do the graphics represent a professional image that customers can trust with their investment? Importantly, is lead generation maximized with offers and registration pages? Consider paid search (Pay-Per-Click) if vendors allow.

7. Content–Be the subject matter expert (SME) or thought leader for your niche. How? Develop case studies, white papers, eBooks, surveys and industry studies, videos and more. Use and repurpose the content for your website, blogging and social media. Use content for your credentials kit when submitting proposals. Search and curate (use with credit) content from other publishers, bloggers and editors.

8. Blogging–The tool for distributing all your content is a blog. Blogging has many benefits to a marketing program including excellent search engine optimization (SEO). Blogs integrate with your website and social media to build indexed pages, and distribute content through bookmarking and social sharing. Blog software like WordPress has powerful search optimization features, widgets and plug-ins.

9. Social Media–Social media is the hottest topic in marketing. Why? Because it can build search authority, and generate leads! How? Build-out profiles including LinkedIn personal profiles and company pages, a Facebook business page, Twitter profile, YouTube channel, Google+ and Google Places. Be sure to add social profile icons and links to your website and blog. Add social share tools to both website and blog (Facebook Like, Twitter Retweet, Google+, Bookmarks).

10. Webcasts and Live Events–Develop frequent webcast events on relevant topics. Identify relevant vendor events. Promote and communicate events via email, PR and social media channels. Attend and sponsor local or vertical marketing relevant networking and trade show events. List upcoming events on your homepage, and add an events page to the website with archives.

Following is an infographic that illustrates the channel partner marketing process.

The New Channel Partner Marketing Imperative

Marketing has elevated to mission critical status for channel partners, and the vendors or publishers they represent. To survive and thrive, channel partners must effectively implement marketing using a variety of tightly integrated outbound and inbound marketing tactics, all focused on building awareness and generating sales leads.

While internet and social media are all the rage, traditional marketing including referral programs, publicity and email are still critical to success.

Clearly, channel partners must invest more time, staff and financial resources in marketing. How much? A recent study identified IT service providers spending an average of 7.2% of revenue, and high-growth IT service providers spending an average of 12% of revenue.  Depending on staff resources, channel partners may require the services of a marketing agency. Contact us for effective VAR marketing services.

The post Channel Partner Marketing – Top 10 Best Practices appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Case Study

A case study is a document, typically 1 – 2 pages long, that combines the first-person authority of the testimonial with the narrative structure of a story. Based on real-life events, it leverages reader empathy with the featured client to build credibility and trust.

Case studies work well for service companies and B2B companies that are venturing into new or unfamiliar markets/industries. Also, they are useful in overcoming customer/client skepticism.

Simple products or commodity products will not work well for a case study. If your clients won’t cooperate, case studies are also out of the question. If you are a new business without client successes, consider waiting to publish a case study further down the road.

For example check out our Inbound Marketing Case Study: Construction Marketing Association.

White Paper

White papers are topical reports, typically 8 – 12 pages long, on issues that require a lot of explanation. Also known as “conference papers,” “research reports,” or “technical briefs,” they are perfect for demonstrating thought leadership on issues vital to your buyers.

White papers are especially useful for complex products or services, B2B enterprises, and educating prospects on changing trends or new ideas.

On the other hand, white papers will not work well for commodities, impulse purchases, and retail B2C.

For examples check out all of our white papers on the Modern Marketing Partners Resource Page.

eNewsletter

A permission-and subscription-based means of regular communication with current and future customers, usually distributed monthly or weekly. Available electronically, via text-based or HTML pages, they can include complete articles, or brief descriptions with links to articles on your website.

eNewsletters should be used if your business has a lot of useful information to offer or if you need a tool for long sales cycles. eNewsletters also work well if your organization has a strong opt-in email list.

However, eNewsletters are not so great for companies who are dependent on brokered email lists for subscribers, or without resources to maintain a consistent publishing scheduling, or companies with a continuous product-driven message.

We invite you to sign up for our free marketing tips e-newsletter here.

Blog

Shorthand for “weblog,” the blog offers an easy way to present brief chunks of frequently refreshed Web content. Backed with easy-to-use technologies for syndication (e.g. RSS), comments and trackbacks, blogs are often the blazing centers of social media solar systems that can incorporate sophisticated SEO strategies and community-building campaigns.

Blogs are ideal for companies looking to build a community around their issue/topics, who are using the blog as a part of their social media strategy, and for companies who want to improve their search engine rankings.

If you are a company who cannot be open with information, you lack the time, talent, or expertise, or you are a company who does not like to experiment, blogs are not for you!

For example check out Modern Marketing University, the Modern Marketing Partners Blog.

Vlog

A vlog is a blog that shares embedded video and uses the narrative or transcript in the video as the content for the entire blog.

Microblogging

Basically, we’re talking about Twitter. At 140 characters, the limitations on content are severe. But the speed and reach of the microblog create an almost real-time context for conversing with your followers. Better yet, handy search tools make microblogs an excellent thermometer for checking hot issues and emerging concerns.

Twitter is great for directing attention to deeper content elsewhere, keeping up-to-date on hot issues, and positioning yourself/your company as a trusted content resources.

But, Twitter is not a good tool for sending in-depth message, making sales pitches, or reaching non-microbloggin audiences.

For example: Follow @ModMktgPartners on Twitter!

Check Out The Other Blogs In Our Content Marketing Series:

Content Marketing Definitions, Tips, and Strategies

Content Marketing Measurement

Content Marketing – Survey Results

To see all 42 ways to connect with your customers read: Content Marketing Playbook

These are just 6 examples of content marketing delivery vehicles. There are so many more to choose from. Just make sure to choose vehicles that make sense for your business! How else do you connect with your customers? Make sure to share this post with those interested in content marketing using the social bookmarking tools below.

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Now you can download a comprehensive 40-page glossary of modern marketing definitions.

After many hours of research, Modern Marketing Partners (MMP) came up with likely the most complete glossary of modern marketing definitions, and made it available for download, free of charge. MMP hopes that this new marketing glossary generates discussions on industry terms and fosters new ones.

The 40-page Glossary of Modern Marketing Definitions is organized by major marketing categories, with definitions listed alphabetically including:

• Advertising
• Branding
• Direct Marketing
• Internet Marketing
• Market Research
• Pricing
• Product Development
• Public Relations
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media

You can download the Marketing Definitions Glossary here. Let us know your thoughts on the glossary, including any marketing terms you would like to add.

“We are pleasantly surprised about all the interest in the glossary,” states Neil Brown, Partner and Chief Marketing Officer for Modern Marketing Partners. “The popularity reinforces our how exciting marketing is today, and how marketers strive to keep pace.”

Please share this with others who are interested in marketing and are curious to see which marketing definitions are most relevant today. Of course, please share your additions in the comment box below! What marketing definitions are relevant to you?

The post Marketing Definitions – A Glossary for the Modern Marketer appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.